Emotions:  Our emotions offer us an inroad to our self.  They are the self's truest expression.  We have been taught that emotions are not to be trusted, that they are bad to show, and that we must learn to control them.  Once we develop a new understanding and appreciation of what the emotions represent and how to be with them, we can develop a more empathic way of being with ourselves.  It gives us a greater sense of control to know how to be with our emotions when they happen.  The focusing process encourages this reconnection to one's body and a respect for how our bodies can give us much information that will shed new light on our lives and our possibilities.

Breast Cancer:  In my work with women with breast cancer at the Marvelle Koffler Centre in the Mt. Sinai Hospital, I have come to appreciate the value of helping people to see the connections between their thoughts, their emotions, their body, their spirit, their lives, their hopes, their resentments, and their dreams.  Once they are involved in the therapies I offer, they get a sense of how much they can do for themselves to bring life into their bodies and spirits.  It gives them the power and hope to become what they have not yet explored.  It is very exciting to open them to their minds and hearts and see what life is still available to them.  The art and focusing bring fresh air into their lives and with it hope, a sense of wonder, aliveness, newness, and appreciation for who they are as an individual and all that they have seen and experienced.  Dealing with a life-threatening disease proves to be a major catalyst that gets them in touch with a higher vision of themselves.

The Expressive Therapies:  When I work with my clients I incorporate many of the arts to accommodate people's specific ways of expressing themselves.  These include: spontaneous and directive art tasks, role playing, poetry and creative writing, authentic movement, and occasionally music (with children, used as an outlet of expression).  It is necessary when doing therapy to follow an impulse to its deepest expression.  Often I might ask someone, for example, to show how their art might express itself if they were to rhymically move their body.  A poem could come out of a painting, and so on.

Self-discovery Through Art, Dreams, and/or Poetry:  Here is an opportunity for you to have your spontaneously drawn art or any dream you have had responded to by a registered art therapist.  Barbara Merkur has been trained in art therapy and the expressive therapies and is certified in focusing which is a client-centred approach to therapy.  She is inviting you to explore the personal meaning of your art, poem, or dream.  For the past 10 years she has provided this kind of feedback to her students-in-training to do art therapy.  She gives them her analysis through comments and often offers some inquiries to encourage further self-discovery and personal growth of their clients.

Doing spontaneous art is much like creating a dream in the here-and-now; its implications are quite similar.  She invites, as well, your dreams or poems and she will encourage, from what she sees or learns from your work, some further exploration, at times offering you a directive for further art expression to help you gain meaning and a greater sense of control over your life.

A $40 cheque must accompany the mailing.  Please mail this along with any associations you make to your art.  This can be free association or just the context out of which it was drawn or made.  Any thoughts you may have about it would be helpful.  Also something about yourself such as your family and work situation, or any information that would help with the deciphering of your dream or art - up to one page in length.  

You can take photographs or slides preferably of your sculptures or art or just send the picture itself  with a self addressed stamped envelope for having it returned to you. The pictures will be returned to you with a written sheet of comments and thought-provoking questions about it for you to think about.